How air pollution affects pregnant women and their babies

New study suggests exposure to air pollution before conception or even during the first month during pregnancy increases the risk of birth defects in children.

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Washington DC: Many research studies have shown how air pollution impacts pregnancy, the adverse effects of air pollution on pregnant women and their unborn babies – and the results of each finding are deadly. Air pollution has been linked to various health problems. Among the prominent ones are respiratory problems - such as asthma, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – cardiovascular disease, stroke, etc. Read: How to have a safe winter pregnancy - Five simple tips

While air pollution can affect everyone, it has the most severe impact on pregnant women, children, babies, those with respiratory problems, and the elderly.

Now, adding weight to growing evidence of pollution's link to pregnancy, a new study suggests that exposure to air pollution before conception or even during the first month during pregnancy increases the risk of birth defects in children.

"The most susceptible time of exposure appears to be the one month before and after conception," says Emily DeFranco, senior author of the study.

"Public health efforts should continue to highlight the importance of minimizing population-level exposure to harmful particulate matter in the air."

To conduct the study published in The Journal of Pediatrics, the researchers used birth certificate data from the Ohio Department of Health and particulate matter data from the US Environmental Protection Agency's 57 monitoring stations throughout Ohio.

Dr DeFranco and her colleagues examined fine particulate matter, which is a significant health hazard because these tiny particles can deposit deep into the lower airways and air sacs within the lungs and enter the circulatory system.

Fine particulate matter is a mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets that get into the air and, once inhaled, can negatively affect many aspects of a person's health.

They linked the geographic coordinates of the mother's residence for each birth with the nearest monitoring station and calculated average exposures. They then estimated the association between abnormalities at birth and the mother's exposure to increased levels of fine particulate matter in the air during pregnancy.

Dr DeFranco says there are inherent limitations of observational studies such as this but that it provides a good foundation on which future studies can build. Birth defects affect three percent of all births in the United States.

But that's not all, air pollution can also take a toll on men's fertility. As per a recent study published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, men who regularly get exposed to air pollution may be at an increased risk of having poorer quality sperm. In the study, the team of scientists led by researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong found a strong association between PM2.5 exposure and abnormal sperm shape, which results in a spell of infertility for a 'significant number of couples'.

How air pollution affects pregnant women and their babiesDescription:New study suggests exposure to air pollution before conception or even during the first month during pregnancy increases the risk of birth defects in children.Times Now